Suspension

[road chicken]

R/T man...

Tell me what your SS came with( engine, rear leafs /side, and anti-sways if equipped) and what your planning on putting in it.

Then what you would like to have it do.

The .96 bar is a substantial step up from stock. (The hemi bars were only .92), which is good. Ma always did seem kinda light on the spring rates. Infact, the .92 bar is the smallest street bar mopar carries today. The .88 bar is for the /6 cars and really only good for straight line racing.

I'll give you a quick breakdown on what I did to my runner. a 383 4 speed ( 5 speed now) 8 3/4. 255/60/15's on 15X8 rims "0" Offset Magnum 500's

1) Every last rubber bushing was replaced with poly bushings.

This is huge since the stock rubber bushings let the Control arms, Struts and Springs move around. NOT GOOD. I think this is the most critical because it is the base on which everything else is built.

2) I stepped up to 1.00" torsion bars. These are known as the Road Race bars. It makes the ride very VERY stiff. But they are indeed worthy of their name. It is a huge jump in ability over the .90 ( for a 383 car) bars.

3) I went with the 7/7 rear springs. These are what was used in the police package. It only gives you the extra 1/2 leaf on the one side over stock BB 6/7. It was of little consequence as I was adding the next parts to even that out.

4) Anti-sways. I chucked my stock front bar and went with the front and rear set from Hellwig. You must have the proper front control arms to use Hellwigs bar. That is they must be from an anti- sway bar car. Or you need to add the mounts for them.


5) KYB shocks. They are OK- but I might change them to set of Koni's or Bilsteins.

If you have a BB car that you wanted to be a bit more user friendly the .96 bars are a good choice. I would add a front anti-sway. Especially on a 440 equipped car. Try a stock unit first, then up grade if you feel the body roll is too much. This is with a new set of 6/7 rear springs and new poly bushings at every point including the struts

After that , if I felt the car was not as stiff as i wanted it, then I would look at a rear anti-sway. The stock units are pretty wimpy and having an aftermarket one really plants the rear end. However- the tendency to oversteer ( the ass end comming around) is greatly increased. The car handles better, but the saftey of the understeer ( the car looses traction and keep heading forward) is greatly diminished.

The other HUGE factor is your wheel/tire combo. I have the same rubber at all 4 corners. Goodyear Eagle GT II's Tires make a huge difference. I originally had Dunlop GT Qualifiers. NEVER AGAIN. The rubber compound was too hard. I could lay rubber for 300 ft, but they didn't grip very well, comparably.

The 255 is what I felt was as wide as practical and keep a good weight to contact patch ratio. If I went to a 275, the weight per sq inch would be light to let the rear slip too early, (oversteer) If I went 235, I felt the tire would roll onto the sidewall-( understeer).

Honestly I am quite happy with it. I might change the front bars to .98 but that would be the only thing besides the wheel/tires to 255/17.

The whole trick in doing this is to keep things balanced. If you stiffen the front, then stiffen the rear the same amount.
If the car is pushing ( understeer) then add stiffness to the rear. If it is loose ( oversteer) then stiffen the front.
This can also be accomplished by taking away from one end or the other also.

If you want a stock ride- like I said-Then use the .96 bars, with a stock front anti-sway, and the 6/7 leaf pack in the rear with poly bushings and a GOOD set of rubber at all four corners. Just doing that will put you ahead of stock by a noticable margin.

With my set up I REALLY need better seats first. The car handles so well my biggest challenge is not sliding out from behind the steering wheel. Granted some think a mouth guard should be standard, but it isn't that bad IMO. Kinda similar to vette. You feel everycrack in the road.

[rt-man]

Hi RC,

-My car is a low-mileage vanilla SS. 318, 904 auto, std springs, no sway bars.
-It's going to get either a 383 or 440, A727, 3.23 or 3.55 SG rear end.
-I have already bought a front swaybar from a '72 Charger rallye donor.
-Wheels are cop 15 x 7s.
-I used to have BFG 245-60-15s radial TAs on my '70 Charger R/T and liked 'em. I am undecided on what to put on the Sat, with the thought of as fat as I can in the back (255-60s?) while maintaining the same height profile all around.
-Needs fatter TBs, either stock or thicker.
- I had KYBs on the Charger; will probably go that route again.
-Probably needs HD leafs.
-Rear sway bar? This car'll be a street cruiser exclusively, no slalom course action here. Do I need a rear SB then?

Chew on this for awhile.

[road chicken]

Use the .96 bars and that stock front bar. ADDED: follow this link to get a better idea on the T-bars www.arengineering.com/articles/tbartango.html Pay particular attention on how to properly index the bars in the car.

Get the 6/7 heavy duty rear springs

Tires.

The 255's will fit out back no problem, They will most likely NOT fit up front without some sort of contact. The tire will fit, but the offset on the rim is the problem. 245's up front SHOULD work. Check it before comitting. Here again it is the offset on the rim that concerns me.

That would be about the limit I would attest to with the cop rims. You can fit up to a 295/50 out back, but that requires a rim off-set to for that application.

It is a small difference between the two you suggested The 255 is a 27" diameter, the 245 is a 26.5" diameter.

Rear gear- If your not doing alot of Hi-way driving- the 3.55 is what alot of my friends have gone with, especially with a 383 car. The 727 converter you choose will make a big difference in off the line torque availible. Something like 2:1 mutiplication down low in the rpm range. .... where us "row yer own" guys are stuck with actual output. Mine took a tactical nuke to get moving off the line with a 383 and 3.23's, but my driving is almost all Hi-way.

KYB's are just fine. I haven't had any BF T/A's. They guys I do know that run them are quite happy with them.

On the rear sway- you can add that later if you feel it is necessary. For that matter you can change the front with minimal fuss at a later date also.

Once again- POLY POLY POLY on the bushings.

Go take a look at my cardomain page www.cardomain.com/ride/427243

The runner has the 255/60s on all four corners on 15X8 with "0" offset. On page two there is my nuclear green Charger. That had 235/60's up front and 245/60s out back. It should give you an idea of what you'll be dealing with.


BURRRRRRRP